Growing organic should be the eventual goal of every grower.
We live on a planet with limited resources, and as cultivators we aren't just cultivating plants, but the future of our planet. When you assess your impact on your environment, the transition to organic cultivation makes sense.
Reservoir run-off containing synthetic chemicals can impact the water sources in your area. The sprays you use on your outdoor grow might be effective but they can do damage if they aren't organic.
When we become conscious of the products we use in the grow and adjust for more organic options, we can grow high-quality plants that produce just as high-quality yields.
Benefits of growing organic
There's no shortage of benefits when it comes to growing organic. From the environmental impact to the end-harvest results, the differences are noticeable.
Through the use of organic nutrients and fertilizers, growers can feel more confident that the water run-off they produce won't damage the local environment. Additionally organic pesticides, insecticides and fungicides can be very effective against pests, bacteria and mold by using organic inputs.
While yields may not be as high as their synthetically grown counterparts, the quality of organically grown plants can make it all worth it. There's much less concern about harmful chemicals being on your final product if you avoid the harmful chemicals from the start!
How to begin growing organic
Growing organically isn't that much more difficult than growing with synthetic plant products, but it does take more dedication. There's plenty of organic products out there that are labeled to let you know that they are organic. Others you might have to do some digging for to get all the details.
Lucky for us as growers, a lot of nutrient companies will have informational data sheets that tell you every ingredient in their products so you can make sure the inputs are all organic. You can also do yourself a major service by creating your own compost.
Compost can be brewed into a tea that you can then use to feed your plants essential micronutrients, beneficial bacteria and more to help them grow stronger, fight back against bugs and more. If you're interested in making your own compost tea, check out our quick guide here.
Use organic inputs
The easiest way to incorporate organic practices into your grow is with organic inputs. There's plenty of fertilizers and nutrients derived from natural resources in nature. Bat guano and earth worm castings are two of the most popular organic inputs available, and can be found at almost any grow store.
Other organic inputs include bone and blood meals, feather meal, fish emulsion, seaweed and kelp products. To get an idea of the wide range of options, basically if it comes from the earth or an animal, it's organic.
Of course with anything you take from the earth, it has to be replenished. This has spawned a movement within the organic movement only use renewable organic inputs. As it turns out, there's some debate over what can be considered renewable too.
So what does it all mean? It means that to be an organic grower means to be conscious of the products you are using, and the impact it has on your local ecosystem.
It's important to stay on top of new developments in organic garden products, research the products you do use and learn the best practices for keeping your grow organic. If it all sounds like too much commitment, you don't need to be 100% organic.
You can incorporate some organic products to replace synthetics in your grow, and keep the synthetics that you know work for you. Because while using organic practices is important, we all know that yields matter too. Unfortunately organic practices don't typically produce the same yields as plants grown with synthetic products.
That's why we recommend a good combination of organic and synthetic products to maximize plant health and yields! But when you want to go full-fledged organic, we'll be here to help with that too.